Mortuary and ambulance basket.



J. H. HUNT. MOBTUAHY ANDAMBULANCE BASKET APPUCAHON FILED APH. 13| i915- i v M. Patented Apr. 30,1918.

" v I tnventor Witnesses Attorneys JOHN H. ninna,

OF VICTOR, COLORADO.

MORTUARY -AND AMIBLANCE BASKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. '30, i912.

`Applcatiolfl filed April 13, 1916. Serial No. 90,972.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Jol-1N H. HUNT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Victor, in the county of Teller and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Mortuary and Ambulance Basket, of which the following is a specification.

By way of explanation it may be stated that a corpse when gathered up by an undertaker, or by an ambulance operator, frequently is dismembered or disintegrated by decomposition to such an extent that repeated handlings "of the corpse are to be avoided, both for the purpose of rendering the task of the undertaker or ambulance operator as free as possible from disagreeable details, and for the purpose of preventing an undue, further and unnecessary seperation of the parts of the cadaver.

In view of the foregoing, the present invention aims to provide a mortuary basket or receptacle, `so constructed that after a corpse has been placed thereon, it will be unnecessary to lift the corpse out of the receptacle, when it is desired to place the corpse on a table.

Specifically, the invention aimsto provide a device of the type above described including a releasable bottom adapted to move downwardly, whereby the corpse may be deposited upon a table.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel means for controlling the movement of the movable bottom of the receptacle and for holding the same in a closed position.

It is within the province of a disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the present invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the sco-pe of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l shows in bottom plan, a mortuary and ambulance basket constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a portion of one of the latch bars.

In carrying out the present invention there is provided a peripheral frame l which may be of any desired form. The frame 1 ordinarily is made up of an angle member including a vertical flange 2 and a horizontal flange 3. The bottom of the structure comprises parts 4, adapted to swing downwardly, but housed within the contour of the frame l when in closed position. The bottom forming parts l are held to the frame l for downward swinging movement by means of hinges 5 attached t0 the said parts 4C and to the lower face of the horizontal flange 3 of the frame l. The hinges 5 extend toward the median line of the device, so as to reinforce the bottom parts 4L. In the drawings, two bottom parts l have been shown, and it is not necessary that the structure include two bottoni parts.

Mounted on the lower face of the horizontal flange 3 of the frame l at the sides of the frame are loop-shaped depending keepers 6. Mounted for endwise removal in the keepers 6 are rods 7, engagingv beneath the bottom parts 4, to prevent the same from swinging downwardly. At one eX- tremity, each of the rods 7 is equipped with an upstanding end 8, the same terminating in a substantially horizontal extension 9 overhanging the horizontal flange 8 of the frame l at one side of the structure. The extensions 9 are equipped with loop-shaped handles l0` lying above the horizontal flange 3 of the frame 1 and disposed approximately parallel to the vertical flange 2 of the frame. Mounted on the upper face of the horizontal flange 3 of the frame l and eX- tended transverselythereof' are base plates 11, each of which is provided with an np standing beveled latch head 12 located relatively near to the vert-ical flange 2.

Handles 14 may be'provided, these handles being disposed as the desire of the manufacturer or the taste of the user may dictate. The handles l/i may be located at the ends of the frame l and they terminate in diverging ends 15 attached to the lower face von a table or like of the horizontal flange 3 at the ends of the frame l. Fixed to and depending from the bottom parts 4 are buffers 16, preferably made of resilient material. The buffers 16 prevent an operating table or other support from being scratched or injured by the hinges 5, the keepers 6 or the rods 7, when the device forming the subject matter of this application is placed thereon.

In practical operation, when the structure is disposed as shown in the drawings, the corpse is placed on the bottoni parts 4, within the contour of the vertical flange 2.

The structure is held above a. table or like support (not shown) and the rods 7 are drawn out of the keepers 6, whereupon the bottom parts 4 will swing downwardly on the hinges 5 and deposit the corpse on the table.

The bottom parts it are then swung to closed positions, and the rods 7 are engaged again with the keepers 6 to hold the bottom parts 4 elevated andin the position shown in the drawings. The handles 10 on the rods 7 are swung downwardly, between the latch heads l2 and the vertical flange 2 of the frame l, and are engaged by the latch'heads, which are somewhat resilient, and as a consequence, the rods y7 cannot be withdrawn until the handles 10 of the rods are disen gaged from the latch heads. An accidental withdrawing of the rods 7 and a consequent downward swinging movement of the bottom parts 4L, attended by an undesired dumping of the corpse will, therefore, be avoided.

From the foregoing it is obvious that there is disclosed lin this application, a novel means whereby a corpse may be deposited support, without an unnecessary amount of handling.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is l. A receptacle for carrying and depositing a dismembered human body, including a portable peripheral frame; a downwardly swinging bottom hinged to the frame; keepers carried by opposed portions ot the frame, a rod mounted for endwise removal and for rotation in the keepers, the rod extending beneath the bottom to support the bottom, the rod being provided with a handle, overhanging a portion of the frame; and a latch on the frame wherewith the handle engages.

when the rod is rotated, thereby to hold the rod in the keepers against cndwise removal.

Q. A receptacle for carrying and depositing a dismembered human body, including a portable peripheral :trame comprising an angle member made up of a vertical fiange and a horizontal flange; a bottom located within the contour of the frame; a hinge uniting the bottom with the horizontal ilange of the angle member; keepers carried by the horizontal flange; and a rod inserted through the keepers and extending beneath the bottom to support the bottom.

3. A receptacle for carrying and depositing a dismembered human' body, including a portable peripheral frame; a downwardly swinging bottom located within the contour of the frame; a hinge uniting the bottom with the frame; a holding means coacting with the bottoni and with the frame to prevent a downward movement of the bottom, the holding means being releasable with respect to the bottom to permit the depositing of a body; a resilient buffer carried by the bottom and projecting downwardly beyond the holding means and the hinge, thereby to protect, against injury by the hinge and the holding means, a support on which the ree ceptacle is placed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aiiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. HUNT.

Witnesses:

IRA L. ATKINSON, C. F. KINGSLEY.

Copies o! this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

